1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for facilitating the collection and disposal of human waste. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for collecting human waste from a bedridden person without requiring him to leave his bed, and the disposal of such waste without contamination of an assistant.
2. Background
Many people become confined to bed for various reasons, either for short periods such as a few days, or for longer periods such as several months or even years. Such situations are often occur when a person is confined to a hospital or to a home bed with a nurse attendant or other home health provider to assist the person in attending to their various needs. In such circumstances, bedridden people, such as hospital patients, will need to accommodate all their physiological needs from their bed, including eating washing, and defecating and voiding. Often, patients confined to bed need assistance in taking care of their physiological needs.
Often patients confined to a bed are assisted with their physiological needs through the use of a bedpan, commonly made of plastic or stainless steel. Presently, there are two types of bedpans in wide use. One type is designed for patients having some mobility in bed, and who can be rolled over. This type of bedpan can be emplaced under a patient by rolling the patient over and then placing the bedpan below the patient, and then rolling the patient back onto the pan to evacuate. For patients who have more serious injuries preventing them from moving around very much in bed, such as patients with bone fractures requiring immobilization to promote healing, another type of bedpan is often used, which is often called a “fracture” bedpan. These types of bedpans are generally shaped like a wedge when viewed in profile from the side, facilitating the sliding of the fracture bedpan under the patient directly from the front, or under the patient's upper thighs and buttocks.
Presently, when a bedridden patient needs assistance with evacuating, depending on his degree of mobility, the placing of the bedpan may require more than one caregiver. In one method to position the bedpan under the patient's buttocks, one or more caregivers roll the patient over one of his sides, the bedpan is emplaced under his buttocks, and then the patient is rolled back lying over the bedpan. Then, in the case of an electrically-reclinable bed, such as a hospital bed, the bed is inclined up to sit the patient over and on the bedpan. Another common method of emplacing a bedpan is to ask a patient lying horizontally on a bed, to raise his hips, or have one or more caregivers to raise the patient by his hips and buttocks, while another caregiver places the bedpan under patient's buttocks. Then the bed can be inclined to cause the patient to be sitting up over and on the bedpan.
Both of these methods to emplace a bedpan require that the patient is handled significantly, and possibly invasively, and that his private areas be greatly exposed to attendants. This may cause discomfort and embarrassment. The attendants performing these methods may be required to expend great physical effort resulting in stress on their lower backs, and possibly leading to injuries.
Once the patient has evacuated, the caregiver(s) may then recline the bed and either roll or raise the patient while another caregiver pulls the bedpan out from the patient's buttocks. Then, one of the caregivers can bring the bedpan to a commode into which the attendant may deposit all contents. Then the caregiver will have to clean the bedpan with water; depending on the resources in the facility, this may be done with a hose, in a toilet, or in a sink. This cleaning task may be unpleasant and even dangerous for caregivers since there is always the risk of splashing and contagion, both to the caregiver or to other patients and people with whom the caregiver later comes into contact.
Many conventional bedpans are designed for multiple uses and therefore need to be cleaned after each use. Patients evacuate directly into the actual bedpan itself, which then is used to contain and collect the human waste and to transport it to another receptacle or disposal location, typically a commode. Generally, an attendant must carry the human waste deposited into the bedpan and dump out of the bedpan and into a commode, flush the commode, and then wash the bedpan out for reuse. Washing the bedpan often involves a process of spraying it out with a hose or sprayer, often in a large sink. There are many shortcomings associated with this process. First, there is the possibility of splashing of the waste itself or the contaminated waste water onto the attendant, which is unpleasant and unclean. Additionally, there is a possibility that the bedpan would not get completely clean from the washing process, and some waste might cling to the bedpan, rendering it unclean for further use. This process also takes time to conduct properly.
One problem with current bedpans is their inability to comfortably and safely accommodate large, overweight, or obese patients. More and more people are obese and overweight in the United States. Such weight problems can aggravate or cause other health problems. Also, the overweight condition can make it very difficult if not impossible to move the patient in bed to position a bedpan under the patient who is bedridden. Further, current bedpans are often too narrow and therefore uncomfortable or unstable under larger or obese patients. Some bedpans are not structurally robust enough to safely accommodate large, heavy patients, and may deform or even collapse under large, heavy patients, which can be at least messy and inconvenient, and at worse dangerous or even injurious to the patient.
Modern bedpans are also not designed to be user-friendly from the perspective of the nurse or attendant who must assist in the use of the pan. For example, most bedpans lack handles or other ready and convenient handholds for use by the attendant in positioning the bedpan. This results in the attendant having to struggle with the pan and causing discomfort or embarrassment for the patient. Further, sometimes the attendant, in order to get a solid purchase on the bedpan in the course of positioning or manipulating it, may even feel forced to place his hands or fingers inside the opening of the bedpan, which may be unsanitary, messy, or otherwise undesirable, and may further cause embarrassment to the patient.
Therefore, many contemporary bedpan designs are difficult to emplace properly under a patient. Even “fracture” bedpans can be very difficult to emplace under a patient, particularly a patient who is obese or very overweight. Often, an attendant is forced to attempt to “wedge” the bedpan under the patient, which process is rendered difficult by the shape of the bedpan. Often, an attendant is forced to actually hoist or lift a patient to emplace a bedpan under him. This process may require the participation of two or more attendants, which takes up time and resources. Further, many attendants, such as those of slight build, may have trouble moving, lifting, rolling, or otherwise positioning a patient properly over a bedpan. This manipulation can even be injurious or uncomfortable to the patient. Further, the attendant(s) may become injured through lifting a heavy patient, for example if the patient suddenly shifts and they have to quickly react.
Some attendants may attempt to place a bedpan in a vertical orientation under the raised thighs and buttocks of a reclined patient, and then to sit the patient up using the power bed functionality to raise the upper body of the patient onto the bedpan. This is very difficult to do successfully, however, because the pan may move or slip during this process, or may fall over during the process of raising the patient, causing the patient to end up not centered over the receptacle hole of the bedpan or to even fall off of the bed completely, causing injury or embarrassment. One way to improve the success rate of such a maneuver is to have two or more attendants do it; one to hold the pan in place and anther to raise the bed and keep the patient centered and safely secure on the bed. Such an approach, however, has the disadvantage of requiring more than one assistant, nurse or staff member.